22.", 



if in consultation. The males upon such occasions gobble obstrepe- 

 rously, strutting with extraordinary importance, as if to animate their 

 companions ; and the females and young assume much of the pompous 

 air of the males, and spread their tails as they move silently around. 

 Having mounted at length to the tops of the highest trees, the 

 assembled multitude, at the signal note of their leader, wing their 

 way to the opposite shore. The old and fat bird?, contrary to what 

 might be expected, cross without difficulty eveu when the river is a 

 mile in width ; but the wings of the young and meagre, and of course 

 those of the weak, frequently fail them before they have completed 

 their passage, when in they drop, and are forced to swim for their 

 lives, which they do cleverly enough, spreading their tails for a support, 

 closing their wings, stretching out their'neck, and striking out quickly 

 and strongly with their feet. All do not succeed in such attempts, 

 and the weaker often perish. 



The wild turkeys, according to the same interesting author, feed on 

 maize, all sorts of berries, fruits, grasses, and beetles ; tadpoles, young 

 frogs, and lizards, are occasionally found in their crops. The pecan- 

 nut is a favourite food, and so is the acorn, on which last they fatten 

 rapidly. About the beginning of October, whilst the mast still hangs 

 on the trees, they gather together in flocks, directing their course to 

 the rich bottom-lands, and are then seen in great numbers on the 

 Ohio and Mississippi. This is the Turkey-Month of the Indians. 

 When the turkeys have arrived at the land of abundance, they disperse 

 in small promiscuous flocks of every sex and age, devouring all the 

 mast as they advance. Thus they pass the autumn and winter, 

 becoming comparatively familiar after their journeys, and then ventur- 

 ing near plantation and farm-houses. They have been known on 

 these occasions to enter stables and corn-cribs in search of food. 

 Numbers are killed in the winter, and are preserved iu a frozen state 

 for distant markets. The beginning of March is the pairing time, for 

 a short time previous to which the females separate from their mates, 

 and shun them, though the latter pertinaciously follow them, gobbling 

 loudly. "The sexes," continues the Prince, "roost apart, but at no 

 great distance, BO that when the female utters a call, every male 

 within hearing respond?, rolling note after note in the most rapid 

 succession ; not as when spreading the tail and strutting near the hen, 

 but in a voice resembling that of the tame turkey wlr-n he hears any 

 unusual or frequently repeated noise. Where the turktys are numer- 

 ous, the woods, from one end to the other, sometimes for hundreds of 

 miles, resound with this remarkable voice of their wooing, uttered 

 responsively from their roosting places. This is continued for about 

 an hour ; and, on the rising of the sun, they silently descend from 

 their perches, and the males begin to strut for the purpose of win- 

 ning the admiration of their mates. If the call f>e given from the 

 ground, the males in the vicinity fly towards the individual, and, 

 whether they perceive her or not, erect and spread their tails, throw 

 the head backwards, distend the comb and wattles, strut pompously, 

 and rustle their wings and body-feathers, at the same moment ejecting 

 a puff of air from the lungs. Whilst thus occupied, they occasionally 

 halt to look out for the female, and then resume their strutting and 

 puffing, moving with as much rapidity as the nature of their gait will 

 admit. During this ceremonious approach, the males often encounter 

 each other, and desperate battles ensue, when the conflict is only 

 terminated by the flight or death of the vanquished." The usual 

 fruits of such victories are reaped by the conqueror, who is followed 

 by one or more females, which roost near him, if not upon the same 

 tree, until they begin to lay, when their habits are altered with the 

 view of saving their eggs, which the male breaks if he can get at them. 

 They are usually from 9 to 15 in number, sometimes 20, whitish and 

 spotted with brown like those of the domestic bird. The nest consists 

 of a few dried leaves placed on the ground, sometimes on a dry ridge, 

 sometimes in the fallen top of a dead leafy tree, under a thicket of 

 shumach or briars, or by the side of a log. The females are parti- 

 cularly attentive to their young. 



The range of the wild turkey appears to extend from the North- 

 Western Territory of the United States to the Isthmus of Darien ; the 

 birds which have been taken for it to the south of the Isthmus were 

 probably Curassows [CRACID.*:] ; and the improbability of its exten- 

 sion beyond the Rocky Mountains, or even so far, is shown not only 

 by the absence of notice of it by the travellers in those parts, but 

 from more positive evidence. 



The time of the first appearance of the turkey in Europe is doubt- 

 ful. The French writers attribute its introduction to the Jesuits 

 somewhat hastily, for there is evidence that turkeys were known in 

 Europe about 1530, if not before that year ; whereas it was not before 

 1534 that Ignatius Loyola, being at Paris, entered into a solemn com- 

 pact with six of his friends and fellow-students to promote his great 

 object, the foundation of that religious order. The probability is that 

 tli>- Spaniards were the first to bring this bird to Europe, whence it 

 has spread over the whole civilised world ; but it is not impossible 

 that it mp.y have been brought to England by Cabot, or some of the 

 subsequent expeditions. 



In a domesticated state the plumage varies as much or more than 

 it does in the common poultry. White is far from uncommon ; buff 

 is more rare. But the most curious variety is that mentioned by M. 

 Temminck, which was in Madame Backer's aviary at the Hague. This 

 bird had a topknot springing from the crown of the head ; and a flock 



HAT. HUT. DIV. VOL. iv. 



of a pale reddish tint, with an ample crest of pure white, were reared 

 by the same lady. 



The royal forests of this country would afford ample shelter to 

 these fine birds, and there, with little trouble, they might be kept in 

 a state of nature. They would soon return to their wild habits, even 

 if it should be thought too much trouble to import some of the true 

 wild breed ; and a noble addition they would make to the game in 

 such royal preserves as Windsor and the New Forest. Formerly many 

 were thus kept in Richmond Park, and Windsor Forest was much 

 frequented by them. 



if. ocellata. Cuvier first described' this beautiful bird from the 

 specimen formerly in Mr. Bullock's museum, and now in that of -Paris, 

 for which it was bought at the breaking up of Mr. Bullock's collection, 

 and lost to this country. 



The crew of a vessel were cutting wood iu the Bay of Honduras, 

 when they saw three individuals, and captured one alive, which was 

 sent to Sir H. Halford, and met with an accident after its arrival in the 

 Thames, and before it reached Sir Henry, which caused its death. Sir 

 Henry presented it to Mr. Bullock, who then exhibited his museum in 

 the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, of which it was one of the most 

 distinguished ornaments. 



Its size is nearly that of the common turkey ; but the tail is not 

 so much developed, nor is it known, whether the bird can spread it or 

 not : the probability is that it can. Bill of the same form with that 

 of the common turkey, having a caruncle at its base, apparently 

 capable of elongation and contraction like that of the common sort. 

 Head and two-thirds of the neck naked, and, apparently, livid, but 

 without fleshy tubercles on the lower part. There are five or six above 

 each eye, five upon the centre of the crown, and six or seven in a line 

 one above the other at nearly equal distances on the sides of the neck. 

 No trace of a tuft on thu breast could be perceived ; but the plumage 

 was rather damaged. Feathers rounded at the ends; those of the 

 lower part of the neck, upper part of the back, scapulars, and all the 

 lower part of the body, bronze-green, with two terminal bands, the 

 first black, and the last, or that next to the tip, of a golden-bronze 

 hue. The tints on the other parts of the back are the same, but near 

 the tail-coverts they are more vivid, the bronze becoming of a rich 

 blue or emerald-green, according to the. incidence of the light, whilst 

 the outer band becomes broader and more golden. Red mingles with 

 the tints on the rump, where the plumage almost assumes the brilliant 

 character of that of some humming-birds, and the bright border is 

 separated from the blue by a band of velvety black. The hidden part 

 of each feather is gray, mottled with black ; and indeed upon the 

 tail and upper coverts this gray is shown, forming bars, one of which, 

 immediately succeeding the blue band, surrounds it, and givea each 

 feather an ocellated appearance. The tail-coverts and lower feathers 

 of the rump are so disposed that there are four rows with these 

 ocellated tips. The tail, consisting of 14 feathers only, is rounded. 

 Lower parts of the body banded with bronze, black, and green, but 

 wanting the lustre of the upper parts. Quills and bastard wing black, 

 edged obliquely with white, which occupies the external margin of 

 the first almost entirely. Outer webs of the secondaries pure white, 

 not showing the bauds in the centre when the wings are closed ; the 

 uppermost blotched in the centre with black shot with green, which 

 as the feathers shorten extends more over their surface, so as to leavf 

 only a white edge. Greater coverts chestnut. Feet and legs lake-red. 

 (Cuvier; Temminck.) 



Zfelcagrit occUata. 



